MARTIN O'Neill believes Villa will be blessed with an array of set-piece specialists next season after seeing Shaun Maloney stake his claim for a regular spot as free-kick taker.

MARTIN O'Neill believes Villa will be blessed with an array of set-piece specialists next season after seeing Shaun Maloney stake his claim for a regular spot as free-kick taker.

Maloney opened his account with a well-taken 25-yarder at Manchester City - Villa's first set-piece goal since December 2004 when Nobby Solano netted a brilliant equaliser over Chris Kirkland against Liverpool at Villa Park.

O'Neill, who was at Reading's game with Newcastle last night with Steve Sidwell still believed to be his target, was not surprised in the slightest by Maloney's pin-point execution, describing the striker's "religious" devotion to practice when they were together at Celtic.

O'Neill could have as many as half-a-dozen first-teamers fancying their chances next season.

"It is interesting," began O'Neill, who saw Maloney send a dipping free-kick narrowly over Portsmouth's bar the previous game. "I really thought that the one he hit last week was in. I thought David James was beaten.

"Shaun can take them, Ashley Young fancies himself, John Carew fancies it, and obviously Gareth Barry.

"Shaun, I know from my Celtic days, works religiously on them. It is part of his game. When he won the Scottish Player of the Year award last season that was a trademark.

"When Nakamura came into the side, they started to share it but Shaun can do that. The goal at City was no surprise to me and I am delighted for him because it will give him a big boost of confidence.

"They are encouraging signs for next season."

Stiliyan Petrov is another who has taken set-pieces this season, while Wilfred Bouma is another whose powerful shot has been deployed.

Maloney admits it was a case of "practice makes perfect" at Eastlands.

"We all practice after training and I was feeling confident. They've been going alright for me in training, so I thought I'd give it a bash.

"Luckily it happened against Manchester City, but I suppose that's why you put in the practice in the first place."

Skipper Barry, like O'Neill, was not surprised by Maloney's strike.

"I was delighted for Shaun. I've seen him take free-kicks in training and his technique is very good, so I knew it would only be a matter of time before he stuck one in."